Texas City to Ban Barbecue?

Earlier this month, Austin City Council members debated a plan that would put restrictions on smoke coming out of barbecue restaurants. While a final vote isn’t expected until the summer, council members gave preliminary approval

Councilman Pio Renteria is spearheading the project–arguing that his constituents have complained to him that smoke coming from barbecue joints prevents them from opening windows or spending time in their backyards.

Bruce Hughes, who lives near the La Barbecue trailer in East Austin, complained: “They smoke several days a week, generally five days a week for 17 hours. I can no longer open windows, the smoke seeps in from the attic.”

Under the new law, Austin would regulate the amount of smoke that comes from food trucks and restaurants if they’re within 100 feet of a residential area.

Of course, barbecue restaurant owners aren’t too pleased.

“My concern is that if we have an ordinance that paints all of us into one group of folk that may not be good neighbors,” said Hoover Alexander, who’s a board member with the Greater Austin Restaurant Association. “We’re going to be penalized without considerations of other solutions.”

Austin–which has long been a deep blue pocket of Texas–is another example of liberal government gone crazy with regulating ever little thing.

When the Left starts banning barbecue smoke in Texas, you know things are out of control.

Adam Campbell is a former military brat, who grew up all over the world--but considers Milwaukee, WI, where he and his wife currently live, to be his home. He enjoys reporting the real news, without bias.